Dix Hills man who failed to pay taxes on $10.5 million sentenced to 18 months

A Dix Hills man who owned three construction companies will spend 18 months in prison for failing to pay taxes on $10.5 million in income, federal prosecutors said.

Eric Anderson was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Arthur D. Spatt in Central Islip, authorities announced in a news release.

Anderson also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay nearly $1.1 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Anderson paid $50,000 toward restitution Friday at his sentencing.

According to court documents, Anderson owned three Dix Hills construction companies -- Anderson Framing, Anderson Enterprise and Anderson Trim Specialty. From 2006 through 2008, he used a commercial check-cashing service to cash more than $10.5 million in checks paid to the companies representing gross receipts of the businesses.

He used a portion of the cash to pay his employees "under the table" wages, prosecutors said. As the owner, from 2006 through 2008, Anderson failed to collect or pay to the IRS the employment taxes that were due quarterly on his employees' cash wages.

Anderson also used a portion of the cash from his businesses for his own personal use. He concealed much of his income from the IRS by filing false corporate and individual federal income tax returns in certain years and failing to file tax returns in other years. In total, Anderson's actions caused a tax loss of more than $1 million to the IRS.

Anderson pleaded guilty to employment tax fraud in June 2014, admitting to "willfully failing to collect and pay over to the IRS employment taxes."